Shoulder pad



Sept. 19, 1950 R. B. PERRY 2,522,688

SHOULDER PAD Filed April 27, 1945 ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 19, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to shoulder pads for garments, and has as its primary object to provide a shoulder pad having greatly improved form retaining characteristics. The method and apparatus for manufacturing these shoulder pads is being claimed in applicants copending application, Serial No. 721,896, filed January 14, 1947, which is a continuation-in-part of the present application.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a shoulder pad having a reenforcing sheet of loosely woven sized fabric lying adjacent the inner surfaces of the top and bottom walls and at least partly enclosing padding material, said fabric having form retaining characteristics when dry and is moistened in the making of the pad, the sizing adhering to adjacent material so as to bond together the reenforcing sheet and such adjacent contacting material when dry.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shoulder pad having a well defined corner between its upper surface and its end surface.

A further object is to provide a shoulder pad having a substantially fiat end surface joined to top and bottom surfaces by well defined corners.

Another object is to provide a shoulder pad having a sewing flange disposed as a projection of its top wall overhanging its end wall in order to facilitate the sewing of the outer covering of the garment thereto.

Another object of the invention provides a shoulder pad wherein a filler of resilient material is confined under partial compression, especially at the end of the pad, wherein a pair of tension members are employed to reenforce the pad, with the upper tension member being distended by the expansible force of the filler and thereby maintaining the desired transverse contour of the pad at the ends thereof, and with the lower tension member resisting spreading movement between the lateral extremities of the end wall of the pad.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shoulder pad including a reenforcing sheet of fabric material impregnated with a stiffening material such as sizing, a d assisting in the maintaining of the predetermined shape of the pad.

A further object is to provide a shoulder pad having an end wall abruptly related to its top Wall and of meniscoid shape, in combination with means restraining under tension any separation of the meniscoidal points of said end wall.

Another object is to provide a shoulder pad having top, bottom and end walls formed of a single sheet of cover material folded back upon itself, which may be formed with a sewing flange disposed as a continuation of the top wall overhanging said end wall.

A further object is to provide a shoulder pad with at least one tension cord or tape reenforcing one of the corners of the end of the pad and maintaining a filler under compression between them.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be brought out in the following part of :the specification.

Referring now to the drawings which are for illustrative purposes only:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a shoulder pad embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with a portion of the cover material broken away to illustrate the interior of the structure;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the pad with a portion of the end wall broken away to illustrate particularly the reenforcing cords; and

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal central sectional view through the pad.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, my improved pad comprises a covering which provides a top wall 2|, a bottom wall 22, and an end wall 23. The walls 24 and 22 conform to a pair of arcuate surfaces of approximately conical shape, intersecting along the lines 2a, and flaring from a common apical point indicated at 25 toward their spaced end extremities which are joined to the end wall 23 to define the corners 2B and '21 respectively. The end wall 23 is substantially flat and is in relatively abrupt relation to the top and bottom walls 2| and 22, i. e., with the corners 26 and 2'! fairly sharply defined. The end wall 23' has a shape which may be described as being generally meniscoid, and terminates at the meniscoidal points 28. The corners '26 and 21 are reenforced by a pair of tension members 29 and 30 respectively which cooperate to preserve the desired meniscoidal shape of the end wall 23. A body of filler 3i pads the space between the walls 2|, 22, and 23 and is confined under some compression. The filler having some resiliency, such as cotton (in the natural state after ginning), the expansive force of the filler maintains the cover walls distended in a smoothly rounded shape which, cross-sectionally, is faithfully maintained in the meniscoid form, particularly at the end wall 23, by the reenforcing tension elements 29 and 30. In thus functioning, the upper cord 30 is distended by the expansive force of the filler 3| and also by the stiffness of the end wall itself (which is reenforced by a lining of stiffened fabric as will be pointed out more in detail hereinafter) 3 and the lower cord 29 acts in tension to resist spreading of the meniscoidal points '28 under a certain amount of spreading force which arises from a natural tendency of the pad to flatten out, and which resists any other forces tending to spread the points 28.

Interposed between the bottom wall 22 and the filler 3! is a sheet of stiffened fabric 32. The sheet 32 may comprise a sized open-mesh fabric such as crinoline which tends to maintain the pad in the desired shape when said fabric is in the dried condition. The sheet 32 is extended around the lower reenforcing cord 29 upwardly against the inner face of the end wall 23, as indicated at 32a, thence around the upper reenforcing cord 39 and then back beneath the upper cover wall-21 as indicated at 32b. The portion 32b may comprise a narrow strip, just sufficient to provide for secure attachment to the upper reenforcing cord 30, but is preferably a fairly wide strip, as indicated-in Fig. 2, and may if desired be coextensive in area with the upper wall 2!. The cover is of a soft material, such as flannel or felt, with very little tensile strength, while the reenforcing sheet 32, although of open mesh material, is fairly resistant to stretching and is provided with some stiffness by the sizing therein. This stiffness assists the reenforcing cords 29 and 30 in maintaining thedesired shape of the pad, although it would in itself, without the reenforcing cords, be incapable of entirely maintaining such shape. The sized fabric is moistened before being put into the pad in order to soften the sizing therein. This softening of the sizing permits the pad to be properly formed and when the sizing is dried the reenforcing -material tends to maintain the desired shape of the pad. Further, the sizing when dried, adheres to adjacent contacting material and forms a suitable bond between the reenforcing fabric and contacting parts. Further assistance in retaining the preformed shape is provided by scalloped lines of jump-basting 33 in the marginal area of the padded portion of the pad. The side margins of this padding or body portion of the pad, along the line 24, are secured by lines of stitching 3 i. Marginal portions of the cover walls 2!: and'22project beyond the lines of stitching 34 to define sewing flanges 35. .Some of the reenforcing sheet material 32, 32b, may also project into the flanges 3'5.

The reenforcing'cords '29 and 30 are very securely anchored at the meniscoidal points 28 by lines of stitching 36 extending from the forward edges of the flanges 35 partway into the flanges and transversely of the reenforcing cords. This prevents the cords from slipping with reference to the cover material and with reference to each other, which is important in preserving their shape retaining function.

The web portion of the material of the cover and reenforcing sheet, extending around the upper reenforcing cord 39, is folded back upon s itself to form a sewing flange 31 which is disposed as a projection of the top wall 2| overhanging the end wall 23. This flange is secured by a line of stitching 38 securing the folded portions together between the cord 39 and the plane of the end wall 23. The flange 3l provides a means whereby the outer covering of a garment may be readily and accurately sewed to the corner of the pad at the upper extremity of the end Wall 23. Such outer fabric is indicated in Fig. 4 at 39, and a line of stitching securing the outer fabric to the pad is indicated at 49. The fabric 39 may be secured to the remainder of the marginal area of the pad by of the reenforcing sheet.

sewing through the flanges 3'5.

The overhanging flange 3'! provides an abrupt edge over which the outer covering material of the garment may be draped in a fashion that is considered highly desirable in the clothing trade. As far-as'I am aware, no one previous to my invention has achieved this-sharp corner effect, particularly in combination with the overhanging sewing flange which facilitates fasteningof the garment.

The invention is applicable to any garment adapted tocover the torso and shoulders of a human body, "such as suit jackets or coats, overco'ats, blouses, dresses, :kimonos, etc.

I claim as my invention:

A shoulder pad for garments comprising a filler pad-a covering sheet disposed around an edge of said filler pad"and covering the top and'bottom surfaces thereoflthe marginalportions of said coveringsheet extending beyond said filler pad, anda reenforcing sheet of sized fabric of form retaining characteristics positioned between said marginalportions of said covering sheet and also between said covering sheet andsaid filler pad, sai'ol reenforcing sheet being bondedto both said filler pad andsaid covering sheet '"by the-sizing ROBERT" E. -PERRY.

REFERENCES CITED The following'references are of record in the file 'of this "patent:

' V UNITED STA'IES-PA'I'ENTS Number Name Date 359,441 Goldman Mar. 15,1887 622,765 Goldman A-pr.-= 11, 1899 f--965,3'l8 Duti-lleul July 26, 1910 1-,769';434 Orlow May 27,- 1930 2,169,491 Giu'seflr "Aug. 15, 1939 2,172,499 Chassaing -Sept. 12, 1939 2,195,806 'Barbieri 2 i Apr. 2, 1940 2274261 Vogel- Feb. 24, 1942 2,329,496 'Walcoif 1 Sept; 14, 1943 138C. 2,392,136 Felick --Jan. 1, 1946 2,395,024 Tangorra 'Feb.-19,1946

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